Cell size is determined by growth rate and frequency of division. Studies in yeast revealed mechanisms that coordinate these processes, as well as the crucial checkpoint controls that ensure the cell is “ready” to divide, but can models from single-celled organisms be applied to multicellular ones that have intrinsic differences including mechanical constraints? Jones et al. investigate the linkage between growth and division in the shoot apical meristem. Through imaging, modeling and mutant analysis, they show that the size of the call at birth is correlated with the length of time to division, which serves to normalize variations in cell size. They also found that the cell cycle length is determined by the activity of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK), that the lengths of the G1 phase and the S-G2-M phase are size dependent, and that cell size is dependent on metabolic status. Overall, they conclude that cell size control regulation is similar in Arabidopsis and yeast. Nature Comms. 10.1038/ncomms15060